Fickle

I sometimes think what I love most about Nature is its sheer unpredictability.

I went to Belfair hoping to see Green Herons, and, although I saw one just as we started our walk, it flew away quickly as we approached. All I could do was catch this quick shot:

Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure it was a green heron until I got the picture home and put it on screen. Although we searched for it throughout our walk, we never saw it again. I’ll probably have to spend the rest of the summer trying to get a good shot of one.

Delightfully, the highlight of the walk turned out to be the swallows.
I suspect it’s impossible to get a shot of a swallow flying without resorting to a movie camera, and until Sunday I’ve never managed to get a decent shot of one as they usually seem shy. So was quite happy to get this shot of a VioletGreen Swallow perched on a nearby fence.

I assumed all the swallows diving over and under us as we walked the boardwalk were the same species, so I was a little surprised when I looked through the viewfinder and realized this was an entirely different species,

a Barn Swallow.

The best picture of the day, though, has to be this one of a Tree Swallow who posed about two feet away for a whole series of photos:

At the risk of sounding fickle, I will admit that I spent much of the walk adoring these fearless daredevils, having totally forgotten the slow-moving heron for the moment.